


Four Ficlets in Just As Many Chapters

by rose_clover



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Deathfic, Gen, Implied Relationships, Ownership, POV Female Character, POV Male Character, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2017-12-07 09:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rose_clover/pseuds/rose_clover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In chapter one, Jack is traded off to Pitch by MiM as a gift to placate the Nightmare king (or at least is about to be), and in chapter two, a post-movie Jack is invited to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the third chapter, Toothiana fails to regain the belief from the children and instead dies. Slowly. In the final chapter, Jack has a meeting with his corrupted twin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Manny had been the first one to find him, and it had been a beautiful moment.

The sky had parted and been riddled with shining lights, all equally stunning yet none as eye-catching as the grandest glow of all.

The Moon.

The Moon had picked him up, healed him, and stitched together his broken body. He was Jack Frost, the Moon said. And he believed. The air was pure and bright

and the night full of promises.

Then, as quietly and suddenly as the moment had begun, the moon dropped him.

The wind whistled in his ears as the hateful icy lake loomed closer and closer; instinctually Jack curled up, trying to make himself small for the inevitable impact. Then he held his breath and tried to brace himself for the waters’ hungry grip to swallow him once more; but nothing came. Instead, a drawn out sigh came from over his head as he huddled, about the ground, barely held aloft by something vaguely wispy and shifting. Then someone tsked, and Jack pulled his limbs in tighter, as the first threads of panic seeming into his body like poison. Gradually, the vapor slid away and he was back on the ice again, slowly easing himself into a crouched position, feet sliding over the smooth glassy surface. Hesitantly he peeked through white lashes at feet his below him, still too disoriented to observe

the scene. A shadow fell over him.

“Honestly, old friend. This is your… settlement?” A gray hand with graceful fingers grabbed him by the chin and forced his face upwards back towards the traitorous light, with an elegant black silhouette partly obscuring his view. “After all the time I’ve waited, _bided_ my time for your promises, this is the best you can manage? A half-drowned peasant boy who brings nothing but ice?” As the figure continued speaking, a second hand joined its brother on Jack’s face, prodding and pushing, before releasing him with a disgusted movement.

**_“How disappointing.”_ **


	2. Chapter 2

 

The letter is thick, aged, and slightly iced over when Jack finds it, snagged in a gnarled oak just outside of the town limits of Burgess. The green ink shines a fresh leafy shade, and when Jack manages to untangle the letter from the knotted branches, he can see the glistening jade spells out his name.

_J. Overland Frost_

_Burgess Town Pond_

_Burgess, USA_

_Northern Hemisphere_

A curious half smile flits across his pale features as he flips the envelope over, running his fingertips over the slightly warped surface as he re-reads the lettering on the front. It's definitely not from Jamie, nor any of the other kids, and the idea of North or any of the other Guardians contacting him via something as outdated as a letter seems so ridiculous he nearly laughs. Curiosity getting the best of him, he pinches the top and rips the paper open, settling onto a icy tree limb as he smooths the letter with his palms. "What is this?" he mutters in the frigid air, and begins reading. The heading is so strange, so formal and so very not-a-joke that he squints and has to read it over three times to make sure he's seeing it right.

The wind stops howling for a moment, as if the entire forest draws a breath, waiting for his reaction.

“You **can’t** be serious.”


	3. Fall of a Fairy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At first she wanted nothing more then for the children to believe, but the pain is wearing her thin and now she'd like them to forget.

She couldn’t breathe.

Hot, useless air clogged in her lungs, setting her muscles on fire.

The pain was deep, a swollen ache, and as she tilted her narrow chin up for air, she could hear voices. Men, moving around her. Coming and going in an endless exchange of voices, only occasinally punctuated by a sound of shifting sand. They came and went, touching her, stroking her feathers and even holding her half-curled hands, flattening the fingers to their palms. Sometimes, she could hear whispering around the surface she had been laying on, little words of encouragement as her pulse fluttered and stuttered in the confines of her ribs. She had one thing to say to them, these strangers (were they? Sometimes they sounded familiar, when she managed to bring her fragile focus back to the surface; almost like age-old family with patterns she knew by heart.) They held her hand and soothed her when the sobs threatened to shake apart, they fretted when her feathers, and eventually her wings, began to curl and pale at the ends. They sighed and argued and went out to retrieve those teeth whenever it seemed she’d miss them the least- But they couldn’t hear her. _Go away,_  she wanted to scream, but her head had become leaden and her tongue as well. _Please._  Tooth -that **was** her name, wasn’t it- had always prided herself on her spirit, her ability to weather even the worst situation, but she had reached her limit. How could she fight, struggle, even cry when she could feel her body wasting, getting worse with every child’s disillusionment. 

Still, the group returned. They brought their Hope and Wonder and Dreams and Fun, but since they could not bring Memory they could not explain to her why. She sent out a prayer, as the feathers on her back fell loose, that someone, anyone would let her leave this torture.

_No more._

_**Please**._

Far overhead, someone sighed; low hopeless sound, and foreign tears landed on her cheeks to mingle with her own. The pain ceased, and a light seem to go on in the fairy’s head. She remembered. She was a Guardian; these people her family. The memories, after an eternity of confusion bore her aloft, and she could recall everything. Bunny and Jack and North and Sandy, her brothers and companions in protecting the children of the world. She remembered, and now she didn’t want to leave that behind. Her heart gave one last peculiar, jerky thump, a half-hearted attempt to hold onto life; but the room started sliding out from her comprehension, and she slowly registered the loss sensation from her body. The room was fizzing around the edges, whiting out slowly, but she clung to her weak vision for a last final look. North held her right hand gently, and although her vision couldn’t quiet reach the opposite side, a pair of icy fingers were laced in hers. She could hear her own breath slowing, and a flash of fear claimed her- she tried to fight off the glow, the warm, mellow light corroding her vision, but she could barely hold onto her thoughts as the light blinded her.

_Let me stay._

A reel of her and the other Guardians played in her head, taunting.

 _I’m not ready._   _Please!_

 _I want… to stay_.

But the dark of dying swallowed her, even against she struggled, as complete and lightless as the bottom of the ocean.

 _I'll miss you_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I essentially based the symptoms of Tooth's death off a heart failure, which I think (since the lack of belief weakens the Guardians) is self-explanitory: she's grown so weak that the heart can no longer function properly, a.k.a heart failure!  
> (｀・ω・´)  
> I'm kinda of not liking this ending, though, so be aware it might change.


	4. A Night So Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so tiny but please accept it ( 　ﾟ,_ゝﾟ)

The darkness doesn’t scare Jack anymore.

Truth be told, that’s not _entirely_ true- the darkness just doesn’t make his muscles tighten with a slithering panic, gripping his staff until the wood creaks alarmingly.

Instead, when it comes to him as he stretches lazily by the pond ( _his pond_ , he calls it, though its a nameless little place) he welcomes it- carefully traces the first swirls of inky mist curling around his fingers with an idle expression, trying to mask the excitement that seeds itself in his stomach and curves his lips into the ghost of a grin. He welcomes it not for what it represents, but what it brings. Gradually, the mist thickens, growing from a gray haze swirling around the tranquil clearing to an ebony fog, glittering against the pure white of the snowflakes like an oil slick. Behind him something shifts mutely; instinctively he spins around with the shepherd crook jutting into the shadows, narrowed eyes scanning the wispy fog.

“Hey.” A voice says over his shoulder, so familiar and predictable he nearly stumbles.

“Hey, Jack,” he replies, turning around smoothly. At first saying his own name with such venom unnerves him- but when he sees his own face mirrored back at him, eyes sharp and mocking, despite color of warm gold radiating from the irises. His face, which against all of his efforts to deny Pitch and his Nightmares, strides out at him from a sea of pure inky fear.

 


End file.
